Where And When?: New York City, U.S.A. 1977
Who?: David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco in the summer of 1953. He was the unwanted product of an affair between Betty Falco and a married man, and the cause of such shame that he was put up for adoption as an infant. Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz wanted the best for their newly adopted son David. They treated him well and tried to raise him to be a happy child. The Berkowitzs' made no secret of the fact that David was not their natural son. They told him that his mother had died giving birth and that he was their son now. An early memory of Berkowitz is guilt; the overriding sense that he had 'killed' his real mother. Along with this feeling of guilt were feelings of worthlessness and of anger. David Berkowitz loved his stepmother and, at the same time, showed her aggression. He had a tendency to insult her ruthlessly and to throw things at her. On one occasion, Berkowitz showed his possessiveness by poisoning his mother's parakeet; he was tired of her affections being elsewhere. As early as ten, Berkowitz was in therapy, but the child-psychologist could not help the brooding child who kept his thoughts and feelings a dark secret. David Berkowitz's guilt feelings and belief that he was worthless and that he caused others to flee from him was cemented when he was 13 years old. He wished death upon his stepmother in a tantrum and told the woman who had raised him that he hated her. Pearl Berkowitz died very soon thereafter of breast cancer. Later in his teens, Berkowitz tried a stint in the army. He went to Korea and became a sharpshooter. After his stint there, Berkowitz returned home and became involved in church activities. He believed that the church might provide the 'family' he was searching for. The army life did not last long. Berkowitz was discharged in 1974 because of disciplinary problems. Soonafter, Berkowitz's stepfather remarried. David did not get along well with Nathan's new wife. He began to grow further apart from his father, at the same time collecting new evidence that he was 'no good' and repelled others. It was soonafter that Berkowitz was informed by his father that his birth-mother was in fact alive and had not died at birth. This news had the potential to alleviate a lifetime of guilt for David. But when he made contact and attempted to form a 'family' relationship, things did not work out as he had hoped. Berkowitz was disappointed with his newly found relatives and decided to look elsewhere for the bond he longed for. It was in Satan -worship that David Berkowitz found the family he wanted and the sense of belonging that he was seeking. He made a blood pact with the devil to serve him and now had an outlet for the rage that boiled inside. On Christmas Eve 1975, Berkowitz attacked a 14 year old girl with a knife. She fought back and managed to escape. Berkowitz decided that a gun would be a more effective weapon in the future. 1976 and 77 saw Berkowitz try his hand a couple of new jobs; he worked at the N.Y. City Post Office and drove a cab. All the while the anger within him festered. He now became obsessed with the barking dogs in his neighbourhood; he blamed them for his inability to sleep. Berkowitz came to believe that the only way to assuage his mental suffering would be to kill a woman. While in Texas, he visited an old army buddy and purchased a .44 calibre revolver. This gun would soon cause New Yorkers to lock their doors and windows, despite the sweltering summer heat.
The Murders: Berkowitz's rage finally exploded on July 29, 1976. Two girls, Jody Valenti, 19 and Donna Lauria, 18, were sitting in a car parked in front of Donna's Bronx home. Berkowitz emerged from his nearby yellow Ford Galaxy and walked toward the car carrying a brown paper bag. As he approached the unsuspecting girls he pulled the .44 from his package and fired into the car, killing Donna and wounding Jody. The killer later admitted that he received a 'mental orgasm' from the crime and that it had the desired affect of curbing his emotional pain. More victims fell prey to Berkowitz inthe fall of 1976 and early part of 1977. It was in March of 1977 that police became certain that they were dealing with a serial killer. Bullets from Berkowitz's 6th attack matched those from the first killing in July of 1976. In early April, 1977, Berkowitz's neighbour Sam Carr received a ranting letter complaining about the barking of his dog. Carr did not respond. On April 17, a note dropped at the scene of a double-killing was closed with the phrase "I'll be back, I'll be back" and was signed "Son Of Sam". This threat increased public panic and launched a massive manhunt. Berkowitz sent another letter to Sam Carr a few days later - a week after that, the dog was shot and wounded.
After Berkowitz murdered 20-year-old Stacy Moskowitz and blinded her date Robert Violante in Brooklyn on July 31, the detectives got a lead. They discovered a parking ticket issued to a 24-year-old postal clerk named David Berkowitz for parking alongside a fire hydrant near the crime scene. Police located Berkowitz's car at his Yonkers apartment building and found a duffel bag full of guns behind the front seat. Berkowitz was apprehended when he came out of his apartment carrying a .44-caliber revolver in a small paper bag. After more than a year of hunting for the "Son of Sam," and investigating 3,167 suspects, some of which were cops, the New York City Police arrested Berkowitz on a hot muggy summer night-August 10, 1977 at his home, in Yonkers.
Trial And Outcome: In April 1978, Berkowitz pleaded guilty to six murders and was sentenced to 365 years in prison. He told investigators that the name Son Of Sam was inspired by Sam Carr's dog. Berkowitz claimed that the dog's barking could be understood and that his interpretations told him to kill.
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